Black Harvard Professor Arrested After Being Accused of Breaking Into His Own Home

Black Harvard Professor Arrested After Being Accused of Breaking Into His Own Home

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BOSTON  Police responding to a call about "two black males" breaking into a home near Harvard University ended up arresting the man who lives there  Henry Louis Gates Jr., the nation's pre-eminent black scholar.

Gates had forced his way through the front door because it was jammed, his lawyer said. Colleagues call the arrest last Thursday afternoon a clear case of racial profiling.

Cambridge police say they responded to the well-maintained two-story home after a woman reported seeing "two black males with backpacks on the porch," with one "wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry."

By the time police arrived, Gates was already inside. Police say he refused to come outside to speak with an officer, who told him he was investigating a report of a break-in.

"Why, because I'm a black man in America?" Gates said, according to a police report written by Sgt. James Crowley. The Cambridge police refused to comment on the arrest Monday.

Gates  the director of Harvard's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research  initially refused to show the officer his identification, but then gave him a Harvard University ID card, according to police.

"Gates continued to yell at me, accusing me of racial bias and continued to tell me that I had not heard the last of him," the officer wrote.

Gates said he turned over his driver's license and Harvard ID  both with his photos  and repeatedly asked for the name and badge number of the officer, who refused. He said he then followed the officer as he left his house onto his front porch, where he was handcuffed in front of other officers, Gates said in a statement released by his attorney, fellow Harvard scholar Charles Ogletree, on a Web site Gates oversees, TheRoot.com

He was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after police said he "exhibited loud and tumultuous behavior." He was released later that day on his own recognizance. An arraignment was scheduled for Aug. 26.

"He was shocked to find himself being questioned and shocked that the conversation continued after he showed his identification," Ogletree said.

Ogletree declined to say whether he believed the incident was racially motivated, saying "I think the incident speaks for itself."

Some of Gates' African-American colleagues say the arrest is part of a pattern of racial profiling in Cambridge.

Allen Counter, who has taught neuroscience at Harvard for 25 years, said he was stopped on campus by two Harvard police officers in 2004 after being mistaken for a robbery suspect. They threatened to arrest him when he could not produce identification.

"We do not believe that this arrest would have happened if professor Gates was white," Counter said. "It really has been very unsettling for African-Americans throughout Harvard and throughout Cambridge that this happened."

The Rev. Al Sharpton is vowing to attend Gates' arraignment.

"This arrest is indicative of at best police abuse of power or at worst the highest example of racial profiling I have seen," Sharpton said. "I have heard of driving while black and even shopping while black but now even going to your own home while black is a new low in police community affairs."

Ogletree said Gates had returned from a trip to China on Thursday with a driver, when he found his front door jammed. He went through the back door into the home  which he leases from Harvard  shut off an alarm and worked with the driver to get the door open. The driver left, and Gates was on the phone with the property's management company when police first arrived.

Ogletree also disputed the claim that Gates, who was wearing slacks and a polo shirt and carrying a cane, was yelling at the officer.

"He has an infection that has impacted his breathing since he came back from China, so he's been in a very delicate physical state," Ogletree said.

Lawrence D. Bobo, the W.E.B Du Bois Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard, said he met with Gates at the police station and described his colleague as feeling humiliated and "emotionally devastated."

"It's just deeply disappointing but also a pointed reminder that there are serious problems that we have to wrestle with," he said.

Bobo said he hoped Cambridge police would drop the charges and called on the department to use the incident to review training and screening procedures it has in place.

The Middlesex district attorney's office said it could not do so until after Gates' arraignment. The woman who reported the apparent break-in did not return a message Monday.

Gates joined the Harvard faculty in 1991 and holds one of 20 prestigious "university professors" positions at the school. He also was host of "African American Lives," a PBS show about the family histories of prominent U.S. blacks, and was named by Time magazine as one of the 25 most influential Americans in 1997.

"I was obviously very concerned when I learned on Thursday about the incident," Harvard president Drew Gilpin Faust said in a statement. "He and I spoke directly and I have asked him to keep me apprised." [link to news.yahoo.com]

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Update

Charge dropped against black Harvard scholar

BOSTON  Prosecutors dropped a disorderly conduct charge Tuesday against prominent black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., who was arrested after forcing his way into his own house in what he and other blacks say was an outrageous but all-too-common example of how police treat them.

The city of Cambridge called the arrest "regrettable and unfortunate," and police and Gates agreed that dropping the charge was a just resolution  though not one that quelled the anger of one of America's top academics.

"I'm outraged," Gates said in extensive comments made to TheRoot.com, a Web site he oversees. "I can't believe that an individual policeman on the Cambridge police force would treat any African-American male this way, and I am astonished that this happened to me; and more importantly I'm astonished that it could happen to any citizen of the United States, no matter what their race.

"There are 1 million black men in the prison system, and on Thursday I became one of them," he said. "I would sooner have believed the sky was going to fall from the heavens than I would have believed this could happen to me. It shouldn't have happened to me, and it shouldn't happen to anyone."

Gates, 58, is director of Harvard's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research and is a documentary host. He was arrested upon his return home from China, where he working on his latest film. He said he's now inspired to work on a documentary about racial profiling.

The city of Cambridge, a Boston suburb, released a statement saying the situation "should not be viewed as one that demeans the character and reputation of professor Gates or the character of the Cambridge Police Department."

Gates had just arrived from the airport when he realized his front door was jammed and he couldn't get into the tidy house with yellow clapboard that he rents from Harvard. He asked his driver for help.

Supporters say Gates was immediately considered a suspect because officers were summoned by a female caller who said she saw "two black males with backpacks on the porch," one of whom was "wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry," according to a police report.

When the officers arrived, Gates was already inside and on the phone with the real estate company that manages the property. He had come in through the back door and shut off the alarm, he said.

Police said Gates was arrested after he yelled at an officer, accused him of racial bias and refused to calm down after the officer demanded that Gates show him identification to prove he lived in the home.

Gates' lawyer, fellow Harvard scholar Charles Ogletree, said his client showed his driver's license and Harvard ID  both with his photos  and repeatedly asked for the name and badge number of the officer, who refused. He followed the officer onto the front porch as he left his house and was arrested there.

Gates told The Root that the police handcuffed him behind his back but moved the cuffs to the front when he told them he walked with a cane. He noted that at least one of the officers in the group outside his house was black.

He spoke of a "terrifying and humiliating" experience at the Cambridge jail, where he was booked, fingerprinted, photographed and questioned, then locked up in a tiny cell that made him claustrophobic.

He said that he doesn't know the woman who called police, Lucia Whalen, and that "she was probably doing the right thing." Whalen didn't respond to Associated Press requests for comment.

Gates said he harbors more anger toward the officer who arrested "the first black man" he saw and arrested him on a "trumped-up charge."

He said he wants an apology from the officer, Sgt. James Crowley, who hasn't responded to a request for an interview from the AP. He also said he planned to talk to his legal team about the next step.

Gates did not respond to AP requests for an interview Tuesday, and Ogletree did not return a request to comment on the charge being dropped. A message was left for the Cambridge police officers' union.

Other prominent blacks called the confrontation a clear example of racial profiling.

"Under any account ... all of it is totally uncalled for," said Earl Graves Jr., CEO of the company that publishes Black Enterprise magazine.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said he was unsatisfied with the resolution.

"The charges have been dropped, but the stain remains. ... Humiliation remains," Jackson said. "These incidents are so much of a national pattern on race."

Gates joined the Harvard faculty in 1991 and holds one of 20 prestigious "university professors" positions at the school. He also was host of "African American Lives," a PBS show about the family histories of prominent U.S. blacks. In 1997, he was named by Time magazine as one of the 25 most influential Americans. [link to news.yahoo.com]

"When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves, in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it."- Frédéric Bastiat

Re: Black Harvard Professor Arrested After Being Accused of Breaking Into His Own Home

sort of like this

"When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves, in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it."- Frédéric Bastiat

Re: Black Harvard Professor Arrested After Being Accused of Breaking Into His Own Home

Was this a racist incident?Yes. But it wasn't the police that were racist, it was the "professor".

EXACTLY!! He acted very aggressive when all he had to do was show the officers it was indeed his home.

If someone broke into my house (no matter the color) I hope the police wouldn't believe they lived here - just on their word.

Sounds like the professor was determined to use the race card.

Quoting: Enaid

I agree the professor overreacted. Of course I'm from a different time and place. However he was arrested after he showed his Harvard Id and license which I assume has his address on it, thus proving it was his home. It seems he was arrested for trying to get the officers Id and threatening him with legal action.

Re: Black Harvard Professor Arrested After Being Accused of Breaking Into His Own Home

you really cant win with the police...I am sure he was pissed...I am sure the police were white which doesnt help...he was tired...and there is a huge history of racial profiling in this country but it didnt start out randomly...racial tensions are still high in this country

its high for most people tired of being harrassed by the police...some police are good guys...half are inbred morons with a power complex

you almost cant win

best thing to do is try to get involved and know your officers...I do only through the fire department

if you are going to plan a confrontation...make sure your are right...are courteous...and are polite...know the law...but be ready for the confrontation to turn sour..then back off

"When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves, in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it."- Frédéric Bastiat

Re: Black Harvard Professor Arrested After Being Accused of Breaking Into His Own Home

Well, understanding that we may have only part of the story or maybe even only one side. From this much it is evident that the cops, once shown ID, should've explained the call, thanked the professor, made sure he was ok, and been on their way. Cops these days have NO idea how to handle a sensitive situation. Taser, shoot, or arrest them and call it a day is their solution. They cause more problems than they solve/prevent. Just goes to show the IQ/intelligence level of the cops on the beat these days. They have forgotten that they work for US, not the other way around. I sincerely hope these incidents do spark some anger and get things changed. The gall of the cops to arrest the man is appalling, even if he was upset (and rightly so).

Re: Black Harvard Professor Arrested After Being Accused of Breaking Into His Own Home

you really cant win with the police...I am sure he was pissed...I am sure the police were white which doesnt help...he was tired...and there is a huge history of racial profiling in this country but it didnt start out randomly...racial tensions are still high in this country

its high for most people tired of being harrassed by the police...some police are good guys...half are inbred morons with a power complex

you almost cant win

best thing to do is try to get involved and know your officers...I do only through the fire department

if you are going to plan a confrontation...make sure your are right...are courteous...and are polite...know the law...but be ready for the confrontation to turn sour..then back off

Quoting: Avian

I agree for the most part. I don't go as far as making friends with cops; but I've never had any trouble with the police. Although I have been stopped by them due to profiling. If I am stopped I just act polite and show my id.

This professor sort of asked for trouble by continuing to press the situation. I can understand his frustration of being accused of breaking into his own home. Though we can't be certain if this was a racial incident; I suspect if he looked like the typical 60 y/o harvard professor the officer would have taken his word that it was indeed his home.

Also, isn't there some sort of law where a police is supposed to produce his/her badge # if you ask?

Re: Black Harvard Professor Arrested After Being Accused of Breaking Into His Own Home

IMO this was very racist. By the time they got outside, the cops knew Gates was a professor at Harvard. They arrested him to humiliate him for acting pompous and haranguing them like as ass. Now a of of Harvard professors would act like pompous, belittling asses, but they don't get arrested for it!

The black professor was trying to throw his weight around like a shrill condescending liberal academic, and the cops decided to treat him like a black man off the street and humiliate him.

In my opinion they would NOT arrest a white Harvard professor for being a loud condescending asshole, and they also wouldn't go around arresting upset white people who yell on their patios.

Re: Black Harvard Professor Arrested After Being Accused of Breaking Into His Own Home

IMO this was very racist. By the time they got outside, the cops knew Gates was a professor at Harvard. They arrested him to humiliate him for acting pompous and haranguing them like as ass. Now a of of Harvard professors would act like pompous, belittling asses, but they don't get arrested for it!

The black professor was trying to throw his weight around like a shrill condescending liberal academic, and the cops decided to treat him like a black man off the street and humiliate him.

In my opinion they would NOT arrest a white Harvard professor for being a loud condescending asshole, and they also wouldn't go around arresting upset white people who yell on their patios.

Re: Black Harvard Professor Arrested After Being Accused of Breaking Into His Own Home

Just sayin. IMHO the professor acted like an ass and opened this can-o-worms and the cop probably over reacted as well. Now they both look like fools.

Quoting: Enlilson

yeah pretty much both acted like fools...

"When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves, in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it."- Frédéric Bastiat

Re: Black Harvard Professor Arrested After Being Accused of Breaking Into His Own Home

IMO this was very racist. By the time they got outside, the cops knew Gates was a professor at Harvard. They arrested him to humiliate him for acting pompous and haranguing them like as ass. Now a of of Harvard professors would act like pompous, belittling asses, but they don't get arrested for it!

The black professor was trying to throw his weight around like a shrill condescending liberal academic, and the cops decided to treat him like a black man off the street and humiliate him.

In my opinion they would NOT arrest a white Harvard professor for being a loud condescending asshole, and they also wouldn't go around arresting upset white people who yell on their patios.

They wanted to humiliate and demean him.

Quoting: AsperGirl 708515

I agree with this post. At first I thought the race card was a red herring but put this way, it does make sense that race may have played a role.

Re: Black Harvard Professor Arrested After Being Accused of Breaking Into His Own Home

BOSTON  Police responding to a call about "two black males" breaking into a home near Harvard University ended up arresting the man who lives there  Henry Louis Gates Jr., the nation's pre-eminent black scholar.

Gates had forced his way through the front door because it was jammed, his lawyer said. Colleagues call the arrest last Thursday afternoon a clear case of racial profiling.

Cambridge police say they responded to the well-maintained two-story home after a woman reported seeing "two black males with backpacks on the porch," with one "wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry."

By the time police arrived, Gates was already inside. Police say he refused to come outside to speak with an officer, who told him he was investigating a report of a break-in.

"Why, because I'm a black man in America?" Gates said, according to a police report written by Sgt. James Crowley. The Cambridge police refused to comment on the arrest Monday.

Gates  the director of Harvard's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research  initially refused to show the officer his identification, but then gave him a Harvard University ID card, according to police.

"Gates continued to yell at me, accusing me of racial bias and continued to tell me that I had not heard the last of him," the officer wrote.

Gates said he turned over his driver's license and Harvard ID  both with his photos  and repeatedly asked for the name and badge number of the officer, who refused. He said he then followed the officer as he left his house onto his front porch, where he was handcuffed in front of other officers, Gates said in a statement released by his attorney, fellow Harvard scholar Charles Ogletree, on a Web site Gates oversees, TheRoot.com

He was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after police said he "exhibited loud and tumultuous behavior." He was released later that day on his own recognizance. An arraignment was scheduled for Aug. 26.

"He was shocked to find himself being questioned and shocked that the conversation continued after he showed his identification," Ogletree said.

Ogletree declined to say whether he believed the incident was racially motivated, saying "I think the incident speaks for itself."

Some of Gates' African-American colleagues say the arrest is part of a pattern of racial profiling in Cambridge.

Allen Counter, who has taught neuroscience at Harvard for 25 years, said he was stopped on campus by two Harvard police officers in 2004 after being mistaken for a robbery suspect. They threatened to arrest him when he could not produce identification.

"We do not believe that this arrest would have happened if professor Gates was white," Counter said. "It really has been very unsettling for African-Americans throughout Harvard and throughout Cambridge that this happened."

The Rev. Al Sharpton is vowing to attend Gates' arraignment.

"This arrest is indicative of at best police abuse of power or at worst the highest example of racial profiling I have seen," Sharpton said. "I have heard of driving while black and even shopping while black but now even going to your own home while black is a new low in police community affairs."

Ogletree said Gates had returned from a trip to China on Thursday with a driver, when he found his front door jammed. He went through the back door into the home  which he leases from Harvard  shut off an alarm and worked with the driver to get the door open. The driver left, and Gates was on the phone with the property's management company when police first arrived.

Ogletree also disputed the claim that Gates, who was wearing slacks and a polo shirt and carrying a cane, was yelling at the officer.

"He has an infection that has impacted his breathing since he came back from China, so he's been in a very delicate physical state," Ogletree said.

Lawrence D. Bobo, the W.E.B Du Bois Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard, said he met with Gates at the police station and described his colleague as feeling humiliated and "emotionally devastated."

"It's just deeply disappointing but also a pointed reminder that there are serious problems that we have to wrestle with," he said.

Bobo said he hoped Cambridge police would drop the charges and called on the department to use the incident to review training and screening procedures it has in place.

The Middlesex district attorney's office said it could not do so until after Gates' arraignment. The woman who reported the apparent break-in did not return a message Monday.

Gates joined the Harvard faculty in 1991 and holds one of 20 prestigious "university professors" positions at the school. He also was host of "African American Lives," a PBS show about the family histories of prominent U.S. blacks, and was named by Time magazine as one of the 25 most influential Americans in 1997.

"I was obviously very concerned when I learned on Thursday about the incident," Harvard president Drew Gilpin Faust said in a statement. "He and I spoke directly and I have asked him to keep me apprised." [link to news.yahoo.com]

Quoting: Reece2076

a normal person would have been glad that police responded to the neighbors cll it would have save a life of an ennocent victim inside..but NoooooGates gets mad that he has prove his nenity he is abve the law remember cause he is Black officer get id checks from identicle calls afte the fu ck ing front door has just been knock in..this idiot want free money so he showed his black ass to stir up more shit any ne ele would have been grateful that poice acted swiftlyand throughly .now some lawyer will sue just because police did a through investigation of this forced break in in a residenntual area ...he teches at college rather amazing that he objected to the id check . these Black attention hog luns continue to step over all bars of normal commom sense ..

Re: Black Harvard Professor Arrested After Being Accused of Breaking Into His Own Home

a normal person would have been glad that police responded to the neighbors cll it would have save a life of an ennocent victim inside..but NoooooGates gets mad that he has prove his nenity he is abve the law remember cause he is Black officer get id checks from identicle calls afte the fu ck ing front door has just been knock in..this idiot want free money so he showed his black ass to stir up more shit any ne ele would have been grateful that poice acted swiftlyand throughly .now some lawyer will sue just because police did a through investigation of this forced break in in a residenntual area ...he teches at college rather amazing that he objected to the id check . these Black attention hog luns continue to step over all bars of normal commom sense ..

Re: Black Harvard Professor Arrested After Being Accused of Breaking Into His Own Home

Yep... just like in da hood. Black complain about lack of cops in their hood.... but when arrests are made, its racial profiling...even tho 90%+ are black in that neighborhood....

LOL.. I'm not from the "hood" but I've known black people who were. I've never heard anyone complaining about a LACK of cops in the "hood".

Quoting: Reece2076

I work in da hood....the community wants the muggers, rapist, and burglars arrested, but not the drug dealers, hookers, or fences....these are looked at as harmless(dey ain'ts doing nuttin") community assets...people are weird that way....

Re: Black Harvard Professor Arrested After Being Accused of Breaking Into His Own Home

Pretty black and white case here.

Gates should have cooperated fully and thanked the officer for checking on his home and being so concerned.

Anyone of any color would get arrested for the same behavior in this case.

Fact is that whites get less slack than others in cases like these because of expectations.

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 730909

He was acting like a hostile protester or activist, being loud and demanding the cops' badge number, etc. Liberal academic protestors like to do that kind of stuff. I'm sure those cops have seen plenty of that from white academics without arresting them.

On the other hand, while I doubt that a white professor would have been put through what he was put through, when you get up in some cop's face and start pushing their buttons, you should be prepared to take the consequences.

IMO, it was racist for the cops to arrest him for that. But he should have been prepared to be treated like a hostile protester since he was acting like one.